


Outshine the Sun

by a_lanart



Series: Myth and Magic [3]
Category: Highlander: The Series, Merlin (TV)
Genre: Community: consci_fan_mo, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-01
Updated: 2011-12-01
Packaged: 2017-10-26 18:37:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/286600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_lanart/pseuds/a_lanart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gaius receives a letter</p>
            </blockquote>





	Outshine the Sun

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Gaius and BBC Merlin characters belong to the BBC, Methos belongs to Panzer/Davis.  
> The OC belongs to me  
> Title from the song by All About Eve

~*~

Outshine the Sun

*

 

Once a week, or thereabouts, Gaius would ensure he made the trip downriver to where the monastery nestled in a curve of the river against the hillside that eventually led up to the cave Blaise called home. The brothers and sisters always made him feel welcome – some of them more than others – and they were always glad when he brought them bunches of herbs that were difficult to find or medicines of his and Blaise's making that they weren't able to concoct themselves, for lack of magic. It was a peaceful, happy place, full of joy and a simple, fervent belief that god loved all no matter what; magic – or its lack – was just another gift.

Gaius had been able to read and write when he first became a pupil of Blaise, though his master had taught him to figure and enabled him to develop his reading skills beyond the wildest dreams he'd had as a young child. The scribes in the monastery taught him to write *well* and encouraged him to illustrate his work until his pen and ink drawings of plants and herbs gained quite the reputation.

Sometimes, his trips would yield other fruit, such as a rare letter from home. Once his father had married again, he seemed to have had little time to write and Gaius treasured every letter no matter how short. It was his father after all who had first taught him his letters, usually scribing them on slivers of wood instead of parchment. As a carpenter Gaius' father had access to wood and parchment was much less easy to obtain. The smell of wood shavings still reminded Gaius of home.

Not long after Blaise and Methos had decided that Gaius should study with Darius in Paris, Gaius made his way down to the monastery, wondering if it would be the last time he visited. He got distracted along the way when he was persuaded to join one of the brothers fishing, but as the sun was warm and the breeze pleasant Gaius couldn't find it in himself to argue that he had better things to do. The sun was lowering in the sky by the time he eventually got there but he had helped his friend make a decent catch of fish so Gaius wasn't entirely displeased with himself.

The longed-for letter from Methos still hadn't appeared but there was compensation in the form of another letter; one from his father. Gaius murmured his thanks and took his leave, the smell of roasting fish following him as he trod the path back up towards home; he always preferred to read letters from his father in privacy, or the company of Blaise which amounted to the same thing.

When Gaius arrived back at the cave, Blaise noticed the letter he was clutching in his hand and lit the lamp in the reading corner with a gesture and a smile before settling in by the fire. Gaius curled up on a rug, forgoing the table and stool in favour of comfort and cracked the seal on the letter. Then, by the warmth of lamplight and firelight, he read the news he was sure would change his life, though he knew not how; that was not his skill. The letter shook in his fingers.

"Does she have a name, your sister?" Blaise asked from his position by the fire.

"You knew!" Gaius accused as he scrunched up the letter in his hand.

"I didn't know she was your sister until you opened the letter; the fire told me. She will grow up to be a fine woman."

Sometimes Gaius wanted to curse Blaise and his Sight but he never would, even when the Sight took the sparkling edge off a bright and shining surprise. He smoothed out the creases in the letter as best he could and traced the shape of her name with a gentle finger, as if he were touching his baby sister herself.

"Hunith," Gaius whispered. "Her name is Hunith."

"Then I think we should go and meet Hunith."

"You do?"

"Of course. And I also think that her only brother should make her a gift, say a protective charm or some such thing. The protection of a brother's love is second to none and Hunith will need to know that she is loved, for that will be her wellspring of strength."

"Will her life be so hard?" Gaius asked, both wanting and not wanting to know the answer.

Blaise looked at Gaius from his position by the fire, his eyes were deep shadows; then he smiled and it was like the sun coming out. Gaius tentatively smiled back

"Everyone's life is hard; such is the nature of life," Blaise said. "Hunith will be luckier than some, for at least she will know great joy."

"Good."

Gaius resolved to start making a talisman for Hunith in the morning, he wanted to make sure it was something that could grow with her and yet would hold at its core his most powerful magic; that of a brother's love.

*

**Author's Note:**

> That Hunith is Gaius' sister isn't exactly fanon, but it isn't exactly canon either. The relationship between them has been mentioned in a couple of interviews but has never been confirmed or denied by the BBC officially - or not as far as I know.


End file.
